Information and communication technology use among low-income pregnant and postpartum women by race and ethnicity: A cross-sectional study

Background: pregnancy and the postpartum period provide windows of opportunity to impact perinatal and lifelong preventive health behavior for women and their families,but these opportunities are often missed. understanding racial/ethnic differences in information and communication technology (ict) use could inform technology-based interventions in diverse populations. objective: the objective of the study was to evaluate differences in the use of ict between racial and ethnic groups as well as by english language proficiency. methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study of 246 women who were aged 18 years or older and pregnant or within 1 year of delivery. they were recruited from 4 hospital-based outpatient clinics and completed a self-administered survey. we used multivariate regression analysis to evaluate the association between race/ethnicity and ict (mobile phone/short message service [sms] text message,internet,and social network) usage by race/ethnicity and perceived english language proficiency after adjusting for age,income,marital status,and insurance status. results: in all,28% (69/246) of participants were latina,40% (98/246) were african american,23% (56/246) were white,and 9% (23/246) from other racial/ethnic groups. of the latinas,84% (58/69) reported limited english language proficiency and 59% (41/69) were uninsured. more than 90% of all participants reported mobile phone use,but more than 25% (65/246) had changed phone numbers 2 or more times in the past year. compared to white women,african american women were less likely to sms text message (or 0.07,95% ci 0.01-0.63) and latinas were less likely to use the internet to find others with similar concerns (or 0.23,95% ci 0.08-0.73). women with limited english language proficiency were less likely to use the internet overall (or 0.30,95% ci 0.09-0.99) or use email (or 0.22,95% ci 0.08-0.63) compared to women with adequate english language proficiency. conclusions: mobile phones are widely available for the delivery of health interventions to low-income,racially diverse pregnant and postpartum women,but disparities in internet use and sms text messaging exist. interventions or programs requiring web-based apps may have lower uptake unless alternatives are available,such as those adapted for limited english proficiency populations. ©nymisha chilukuri,meredith west,janice lynn henderson,shari lawson,robert ehsanipoor,kathleen costigan,sarah polk,wendy bennett.